The amFARians partied hard last night in New York. They are one charity that loves a good celebrity get together with paparazzi, designer dresses, and no expense spared.

But in 2014 and the two years preceding, amFAR — the famous celebrity-based organization tasked with raising money to find a cure for HIV/AIDS– made a pretty rotten investment. According to amFAR’s Form 990 filings for 2012, 2013, and 2014 they gave just under $1.5 million to a research company called the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, located in Port St. Lucie.

Let’s look at some other numbers from amFAR’s 2014 Form 990, shall we?
In 2014, their revenue increased by about $20 million from 2013. So their grants should have increased, too, right? They did, by just $2 million, or one-tenth of the dough that came in from all those crazy live auctions of trips to St. Barths and dinner dates with Sharon Stone.
In 2014, amFAR paid out $9.9 million in grants to organizations fighting AIDS. And they paid $9.6 million in salaries.
No single grant in 2014 came close to the salary of CEO Kevin. Frost, who made $551,647 in 2014. The single biggest donation was to our friends at Vaccine and Gene Therapy, $392K.
In 2014, amFAR also paid $555,000 to their party organizer, and a total of over $800,000 to people who help them put on all their swell fundraisers. Like tonight’s. Party on!

Author

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.